Page 231 - Manual for Activities directed at the Underwater Cultural Heritage
P. 231

 Murphy’s law
Archaeological operations are amongst the most labour intensive underwater operations. Much needs to be done by hand. In planning efficiency one should counter the unfortunate ‘Murphy’s law’ that everything that can go wrong will go wrong.
Technical devices, whether they are pumps, engines, cameras or surveying and measuring equipment other than rulers and tape-measures, need careful treatment and maintenance and have a tendency to malfunction at inappropriate times. To compensate for this, one should be able to deploy back-ups at short notice. As a result, there is a strong tendency to keep to simple and infallible devices: pencils, frosted plastic boards, tapes, strings, rulers and the like: the so-called KISS-method: ‘Keep it Simple Stupid!’ In many ways this is a sound approach. And in remote but shallow sites, underwater archaeologists should definitely be proficient in getting results, while using very simple means.
Sometimes, however, this reaction has developed too much into a creed. In operations with mixed teams of professionals and volunteers, there is an understandable tendency to volunteer for the diving rather than for the maintenance of non-personal equipment. For many, diving is the motivation to volunteer in the first place, which takes away all stimuli to improve efficiency and cut down on the hours spent under water. Unnecessarily prolonged operations are the result. In some respects this can still be relatively efficient, but in other ways it is a waste. For instance, the directing archaeologists cannot be deployed else-where.
Clear assignments are therefore essential. Another option is to take turns for diving, equipment mainte- nance and all other activities.
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© J. Auer. Archaeologist Thijs Maarleveld recording data on a computer.
Manipulating data in computers may pose problems in small boats or with wet fingers. Frosted paper and a pencil provide the simplest and most secure (intermediate) recording medium in more difficult conditions.
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